Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Encore presentation: WRITERLY WISDOM

***I
have a number of writing deadlines coming up over the next couple of
months so I have decided instead of stepping away from my blog
completely to concentrate solely on my writing, I will bring back an
encore performance of my WRITERLY WISDOM series from three years ago.
WW is 52 glorious posts by authors, agents, and editors from around the
country providing writerly wisdom in categories from why even become a
writer all the way to how to publish and market your books.

There
will be two posts loaded per week...Mondays & Wednesdays...so be
sure to stop by and check out all the encouraging information given by
my lovely writerly friends! I hope you enjoy the encore presentation of
my WRITERLY WISDOM series and I will return with shiny, new posts in
the fall!***

The Aliens, Inc Series: Coming Fall 2014

by Darcy Pattison

To write a series of books, my biggest tip is to plan ahead.
You may get by with writing one book on the fly—plenty of people do that. But
for a series to hang together, to have cohesion and coherence, planning is
essential. Here are XX decisions you should make early in the planning process.

Decision #1: What type of series will you write?

Strategies for a series vary widely. For THE HUNGER GAMES,
the story is really one large story broken down into several books. Or, to say
it another way, there is a narrative arc that spans the whole series. Yes, each
book has a narrative arc and ends on a satisfying note; however, we read the
next book because we want to know what happens in the overall series arc. Jim
Butcher’s ALERA CODEX is another series with an overall series arc; it was fun
to hang out in this world for a long time.

On the other hand, series such as Agatha Christie mysteries
(in fact, many mystery series fall into this category) are stand-alone books.
What continues from one book to the next is the characters, the setting and
milieu, and the general voice and tone of the stories. Once a reader gets to
know a character, s/he wants to spend more time with that character. These
readers just want to hang out with a friend, your character. A sub-category is
the series of standalone books that adds a final chapter to set up the next
book in the series and leaves you with a cliff-hanger.

I distinctly remember when I first read Edgar Rice
Burrough’s John Carter series about Mars. Each story is a standalone novel, but
he hooked me hard. I started reading at noon on a Saturday and found myself
hotfooting it to the bookstore at 4:30 pm because they closed at 5 pm and I had
to have the second book to read immediately.

Rarer is the series that crosses genres. This type series
begins with one genre, but moves into other genres as the lives of the
characters progress. For example, a romance might continue with a mystery for
the second book.And the third
might move into a supernatural genre. These are rarer because one reason a
reader sticks with a series is that they know what they are getting. It will be
this type of a story, told in this sort of way and will involve these
characters.

On the other hand, some series unabashedly cross genres but
they do it for every book. Rick Riordian’s Percy Jackson series is a
combination of mythology and action/thriller with a dose of mystery.

Notice that this decision centers on the plot of the stories
in the series. Will you plot each separately, or will there be an overall plot?

Decision #2: Characters.

Besides plot, you should make decisions about characters,
and as with plot, you have choices. One choice is an ensemble cast that will
carry over from book to book. Here, you have Percy Jackson, his friends and his
family as constants. Each book introduces new characters, of course, but there
is a core that stays the same.

Another option is to have just one character remain the
same. Agatha Christie had Hercule Poirot traveling around and the only constant
was the gumshoe and his skills.

Whether you choose one character or an ensemble, you can add
or subtract as you go along. But the characters must be integral to the story’s
plot.

In developing series characters, think about cohesion and
coherence.

Cohesion: Elements of the story stick together, giving
cohesion. For example, if one alien in the family can use telekinesis (moving
objects with your mind), then that possibility should exist for all members of
the family. Of course, some might not have the power, or it may develop slowly
for a child, but the possibility should exist.

Coherence: Elements of a story are consistent from book to
book. If Kell’s eyes are silvery in book one, they are silvery in books two,
three and four.

Decision #3: How long do you want the series to continue?

Many easy readers series go on forever. Think of THE
BERENSTAIN BEARS, who continue their adventures and lives throughout multiple
volumes. For this type series, the story possibilities are endless. Or think of
a TV series, where the situation set up is rich with possibilities. I Love Lucy
ran for years and years on the premise of a slightly crazy wife of a musician.

On the other hand, some series have a finite life span. For
stories with a narrative arc that spans a series, the life span is built into
the plot. However even for these, there can be spin-offs into related series.
Think of Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and Heroes of Olympia series.
The A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy and John Gurney had a built-in limit of 26
books.

Sometimes, the length of a series depends on the publisher
and the early success of the series titles. When Dori Hillestad Butler’s first
book in The Buddy Files series, THE CASE OF THE LOST BOY, won the 2011 Edgar
Award for the best juvenile mystery of the year, the publisher contracted for
more.

For Sara Pennypacker, author of the CLEMENTINE series of
short chapter books, the answer of series length depended on something else. In
a presentation about writing, she said that she had to ask herself what she
wanted to say to third graders. She came up with eight things. Pennypacker
focused on the themes of each book (friendship, telling the truth, etc) and
found that eight was the natural stopping place for her. Of course, she
reserves the right to many more, if other themes present themselves. But she
deliberately stepped away from doing a Christmas book, a Halloween book, a 4th
of July book, a fall book, a back-to-school book and so on and so forth.

My books, THE ALIENS, INC. SERIES, which will be out fall
2014, is about an alien family that is shipwrecked on Earth and must figure out
how to make a living. It’s been interesting developing these stories and
thinking about these three issues.

They accidently fall into party planning and each book
features a different type of party or event put on by Aliens, Inc, the family’s
company. KELL, THE ALIEN, the lead-off story, is about a birthday party and of
course, it is an alien party. Can the aliens pull off an alien party? The
second is about a Friends of Police parade, entitled, KELL AND THE HORSE APPLE
PARADE.

Can you tell just from the description some of the decisions
I made? There isn’t an overall series arc. Rather, the characters, setting and
milieu are set up and there could be endless stories in the series.However, like Butler’s dog mystery
series, I am starting with four books and their success will determine future
titles. There is a main character who is surrounded by friends and family and,
of course, a villainess. These characters weave through the stories and provide
cohesion and coherence.

Plan ahead and your series will be stronger. For those who
accidently fall into a series, it will be harder to sustain coherence. You may
realize in book three that it sure would be nice if your character had to wear
glasses. Yes, you can add it—but you run the danger of it being obviously done
for the story itself. So, in my series, early readers have questioned things
like the art teacher who is from Australia.

They ask, “Does it matter that she is from Australia?”

“Not yet,” I answer. I just know that I have seeded these
early manuscripts with possibilities. If the series goes to books 5-8, I will
have hooks to draw upon.So, while
I haven’t plotted those books, I have still allowed room for them.

Want to write a series? What is your favorite series and how
will your stories compare?

Storyteller, writing teacher, Queen of Revisions, and founder of Mims
House publisher, Darcy Pattison has recently been motivated by zombies
(which helped her meet a goal of running a 5K) and chocolate (which
keeps her young). always active, before her tenth birthday, she (almost)
climbed the Continental Divide, turning back at the last 20 yards
because it was too steep and great climbing shoes hadn't been invented
yet. This year, she biked in Poland and hiked the Rockies (her first
14-er! Made it to 13.) On her bucket list is kayaking the Napli Coast,
eating curry in Bombay, and catching a glimpse of a puma in South
America. You can reach her at her website (http://www.darcypattison.com)